Android is the operating system of choice for most global travelers, according to Gogo

According to some new studies from Gogo, the in-flight Wi-Fi provider, Android is the operating system of choice for global travelers. More than two times as many Android phones and tablets are being carried onto airplanes than iPhones. The company also says that 90% of travelers bring a connected device along with them on their flights, and connectivity options are important to travelers.

Gogo says that more than 50% of passengers factor in whether or not Wi-Fi will be available on their flights when picking an airline to book with. You can find all the information that Gogo has collected about phone and tablet use when traveling below.

Press release:

Global Demand for In-flight Connectivity Continues to Soar

More than 50 percent of global passengers say in-flight Wi-Fi availability plays an integral role in their airline choice when booking a flight.

CHICAGO, IL. – April 4, 2016 – Gogo (NASDAQ: GOGO), the global leader in providing broadband connectivity solutions and wireless entertainment to the aviation industry, recently conducted a global study on in-flight connectivity and entertainment and found that the demand for in-flight connectivity services continues to soar and drive passenger behavior.

Gogo's global study reveals that when choosing a flight, more than half of global travelers factor Wi-Fi into their choice of airline.

The U.S. market has become saturated with in-flight Wi-Fi and wireless in-flight entertainment. But, the interest in these services is even greater for travelers in the rest of the world, where the proliferation of in-flight connectivity is still in its early stages. Outside the U.S. and Canada, 86 percent of travelers say they are interested in using in-flight connectivity vs. 75 percent within the U.S. and Canada. When it comes to wireless in-flight entertainment, 76 percent of global travelers show interest vs. 67 percent of U.S. and Canadian travelers.

The percentage of passengers boarding a flight with at least one Wi-Fi enabled device also continues to climb. Today, 90 percent of global passengers brought at least one Wi-Fi enabled device on-board their last flight. When it comes to smartphones and tablets, Android is the operating system of choice among global travelers. There are more than twice as many Android powered smartphones as iPhones being carried onboard the world's commercial aircraft.

"The need for ubiquitous connectivity is no secret. There are very few places on earth today that people can't connect and the plane is really the last frontier," said says Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo's chief commercial officer. "What's surprising to us is that the demand is actually higher outside of the U.S. and Canada, where we are just scratching the surface in terms of connecting planes. The growing demand of in-flight services outside of the U.S. and Canada creates a significant opportunity for airlines servicing these regions around the world."

Gogo has created an infographic that details some of these findings, which can be found here. This data was compiled from Gogo's global traveler research study and represents participants across 19 countries and 5 continents. All participants had taken a round-trip flight in the past twelve months.

Reader comments

Android is the operating system of choice for most global travelers, according to Gogo

Well iPhones support a massive range of bands by default (as do Nexus phones and one or two other companies).
I'm surprised Apple hasn't made some kind of dual sim. Although they have the fancy new universal sim card thing, do I figure that can be used to do basically the equivalent through software.

Very true, but now that's only true with the att, t-mobile or Verizon version. As for android, ever since nexus 6, the nexus phones support as many or more bands than iPhones. Reason that they work so well for project fi and can switch between Sprint and t-mobile towers on the fly.